The only way you could stop him was to double team him, and that wasn’t even a guarantee as Bradley’s Cade Norris took full control in the second half, contributing a total of 37 points on the day to end Westerville Central’s title run. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Brian Bayless)
Top-seeded Olentangy Orange, second-seeded Delaware, fourth-seeded Newark and fifth-seeded Bradley notched Division I boys district championships Saturday at Ohio Dominican.
Columbus, OH – Hilliard Bradley is especially adept on set inbounds following timeouts, but neither coach Brett Norris nor his son, Cade, could take a whole lot of credit for drawing up the winning basket that gave the Jaguars a Division I district championship yesterday.
“We talked … we prepared for anything that might happen there, like if they put two guys on Cade, but it was mostly instinctive,” said the elder Norris, after fifth-seeded Bradley rallied to edge 13th-seeded Westerville Central 64-62 Saturday in a thriller at Ohio Dominican University.
When Norris, a 6-foot-4 Illinois State signee and the program’s all-time leading scorer, was trapped near the sideline with 6.7 seconds left in a tie game, he wisely called timeout.
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Norris caught the inbounds pass and, not surprisingly given that shredded apart the Warhawks all day, drew a double-team just above the three-point arc. Teammate Andrew Lamb rolled off a screen and Norris found him all alone for a layup with 3.2 seconds left.
“Andrew is the most awkward good player I’ve ever coached,” joked Brett Norris, “but that certainly wasn’t as easy as it looked.”
Cade Norris, who scored a career-high 37 points, handed out seven assists and grabbed five rebounds, said he was prepared to bull his way into the post like he had done so effectively all day.
“You’ve got to be calm and you can’t overreact when you see something different,” he said. “I was supposed to get the ball on the elbow and go left. I think (defender Devin) slipped and fell a little and at the same instance I saw Andrew rolling to the basket. It was more instinctive than anything.”
After another timeout, Central (16-9) had a chance to cover the length of the floor, but Martin’s heavily-contested mid-court floater failed to hit iron.
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Martin scored 16 points, Josh Henderson 14 and Maceo Harper 13 to pace the Warhawks.
“They’ve got a player who made a lot of plays,” Warhawks coach Kevin Martin said. “They went through Cade on every possession. There’s so much stress on guarding their shooters at the three-point line. We just didn’t get the last rotation and Cade, who’s a willing passer, made a great play.”
It was a game of significant ebbs and flows with 10 lead changes and six ties. Central led 58-45 with 5:15 remaining before Bradley made its final push.
After Norris started the game 1 for 5, he made his final 13 shots from the field.
“For a while, they seemed to make every shot and every play,” Brett Norris said. “If I recall, we made a bucket-steal-bucket and got a little momentum. Cade also made an amazing play on his own missed free throw. He was just dominant tonight. I’ll tell you. He was the best player on the floor in every game we played.”
It was the fourth district title, all since 2018, for Bradley (21-4), which will face Delaware at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the nightcap of regional semifinals.
Olentangy Orange 60, Reynoldsburg 40
Levi Davis gets airborne and puts one down with authority during a drubbing of Reynoldsburg in the DI District Finals at Ohio Dominican University on March 9, 2024.
A lot of observers thought top-seeded, fourth-ranked Olentangy Orange might be ripe for an upset against an eighth-seeded Reynoldsburg team brimming with length, athleticism and college recruits.
Orange coach Anthony Calo said his team thrived on that perceived lack of respect.
“I told our kids that we have the discipline, athleticism and skills to beat anyone,” he said. “We showed all of those traits today.”
The Pioneers capitalized on first-half runs of 14-0 and 12-0 on the way to a stunning 38-14 lead. Orange outscored Reynoldsburg 20-2 in the second quarter.
“Our three keys coming in were to value every possession, keep them out of the paint and not allow them offensive rebounds,” Calo said. “We wanted to make it a half-court game defensively, and we did.”
Orange also broke Reynoldsburg’s full-court pressure with ease for many high-percentage shots. Keegan Knupp was the main benefactor with 18 points and eight rebounds. Dylan Joy added 14 points and Devin Brown 10.
“We had a lot of respect for Reynoldsburg coming in, but we knew if we stayed true to ourselves and followed the game plan, we’d do fine,” sophomore point guard Levi Davis said. “We devoted a lot of time in practice this week to breaking the press and it paid off. We’ve got a lot of good ball handlers so that sort of plays into our hands.”
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It marked back-to-back district titles for Orange (25-1), which graduated nine seniors and four starters from a regional runner-up a year ago.
Noah Smith had 10 points for the Raiders (19-7), who came in averaging 72 points per game against a top-notch schedule that included two-time defending Division IV state champion Richmond Heights, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, second-ranked Cleveland St. Ignatius and national powerhouse Oak Hill Academy of Mouth of Wilson, Va. The Ohio Capital Conference Buckeye Division co-champ had won its three tournament games by margins of 40, 29 and 34 points.
Delaware Hayes 90, Walnut Ridge 76
Delaware Hayes’ Jesse Burris floats one in the lane over Walnut Ridge defender Deon Johnson.
Coach Adam Vincenzo wasn’t even born the last – and only – time Delaware won a district title in boys basketball in 1986.
The Pacers left no doubt, racing to a 9-0 lead and leading by as many as 23 before a fourth quarter barrage of three-pointers by the Scots.
“I knew they liked to run and we’re at our best when we’re going up and down, too, so that helped loosen our guys up a little,” Vincenzo said. “We’re confident in the fact we have a lot of guys who can get it done. Pick your poison.”
Ohio University signee Jesse Burris scored 22 of his 28 points in the first half to lead second-seeded, sixth-ranked Delaware (25-1). Landon Vanderwarker added 21, Jake Lowman 18 and Jeremiah Russell 15. Burris, 6-feet-4, made four dunks and Vanderwarker, a 6-7 junior, had two.
“This feels awesome, but we’re not done yet,” said Burris, a first-team all-district choice. “We felt happy with the way things developed. Our bread and butter is going up and down the floor with people.”
Duquesne signee Dominique Aekins, also a first-team all-district choice, scored 20 of his game-high 34 points in the fourth quarter for Walnut Ridge (17-8), which made 12 three-point goals.
Scots coach Chuck Jefferson knew that trading punches with the Pacers in an NBA-style game was a risky proposition.
“It was just too easy for them,” Jefferson said. “They had too many transition points. You can’t dig yourself against a team like that. All the credit to Delaware Hayes. That’s a really good team.”
Newark 68, Westerville North 56
Westerville North defender Jacob Medhane challenges the three point shot of Newark’s Jake Quackenbush during a District Final game at Ohio Dominican University.
The formula has been fairly consistent through Newark’s incredible run of 28 district championships.
“Our defense is what’s been good for us all year, and I’d say defensively we were really good tonight,” Newark coach Jeff Quackenbush said. “Our goal was to not let No. 1 (Micah Young) and No. 2 (Tai Perkins) get good looks. Before tonight, we had seen them get in a lot of gaps and cause problems. The object was to not allow them to get past the first line of defense and make them shoot it over guys.”
The Newark defense, allowing just 40.4 points per game, stymied a Westerville North offense scoring 68.4.
The sixth-seeded Warriors went 8:51 without a point and 12:03 without a field goal during a 16-0 Newark run. By that time, fourth-seeded Newark had an 18-point lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
Ethan Stare scored 21 points and Steele Meister 15 along with 12 rebounds to pace Newark (22-4), which will face Olentangy Orange in regional play at 5:30 Wednesday at ODU.
Young paced North (21-5) with 24 points and eight rebounds.
There were 58 personal fouls called and the teams combined for 68 free throws.
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